Palm Sunday commemorates Christ's entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, greeted by crowds spreading branches and crying "Hosanna to the Son of David" (Matthew 21:1-11). The liturgy begins outdoors with the blessing of palms and a procession, then turns inside to the reading of the Passion — the same crowds' "Crucify him" a few verses later. The feast opens Holy Week and joins triumph to suffering in a single day.
The procession re-enacts the descent from the Mount of Olives that Jesus made on that first Palm Sunday. In Jerusalem, the Franciscans still lead the annual procession from Bethphage down the western slope of the Mount of Olives, through the Kidron Valley, and into the Old City via the Golden Gate — the gate traditionally sealed until the Messiah's arrival. The Chapel of the Ascension and the Dominus Flevit church, where Jesus wept over the city (Luke 19:41), mark the route.
The palms blessed on this Sunday are kept in homes through the year and returned to the church the following Ash Wednesday to be burned into the ashes that open the next Lent. From El Rocío in Andalusia to Loreto in Italy, the branch carried in procession is the same gesture, repeated in a thousand places.
